1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display apparatus which displays images of an inside of an organ of a subject, an endoscope system using the same, and an image display method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an endoscope system in which an image of an inside of organs (hereinafter sometimes referred to as an “in-vivo image”) obtained by inserting a capsule endoscope as a swallowable endoscope into the inside of organs of a subject is displayed has been proposed in the field of an endoscope. The capsule endoscope is provided with an imaging function and a wireless communication function inside a capsule-shaped casing. The capsule endoscope is taken into the subject through a mouth for the purpose of an observation of the inside of organs of the subject such as a patient, travels the inside of organs according to their peristalsis, and is eventually excreted to outside of the subject. The capsule endoscope captures in-vivo images at 0.5-second intervals, for example, during a period which starts when it is swallowed from the mouth of the subject and ends when it is naturally excreted to the outside of the subject, and wirelessly transmits the obtained in-vivo images to the outside of the subject sequentially.
In-vivo images wirelessly transmitted from the capsule endoscope along time series are sequentially received by a receiver placed outside the subject. The receiver stores an in-vivo image group received along time series from the capsule endoscope in a recording medium which is attached in advance. The recording medium in the receiver, after storing substantially the in-vivo image group captured by the capsule endoscope, is detached from the receiver and attached to an image display apparatus. The image display apparatus imports the in-vivo image group in the attached recording medium and sequentially displays each of the obtained in-vivo images on a display. Doctors, nurses, or the like can observe each in-vivo image sequentially displayed in the image display apparatus and observe (examine) the inside of organs of the subject through the observation of the in-vivo images.
As such an image display apparatus, a technique of dividing an image stream capture by a capsule endoscope into a plurality of image streams and displaying the plurality of image streams on a display virtually at once is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-305369, for example. In addition, a technique of adjusting, to a desired hue, an image within a correction frame which is displayed on a display screen and correcting color variability due to a difference in a color of a mucus membrane of each patient is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-296200, for example.